# Finder (macOS) 61 Hacker News commenters recommended Finder (macOS) and 172 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 15 years (22 owners). **Verdict:** People recommend Finder for its column view, path bar and keyboard shortcuts, and say it beats Windows Explorer once learned. Critics call it buggy, oversimplified and missing basic features. ## Why people recommend it - Column view for navigating files (7 comments): "For my use cases, I am often sorting through large quantities of media files, so I value things like column view and Quicklook." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49630676)) "Finder does have Miller columns, which to me is the best way to manage and explore files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46040004)) "column view is the one saving grace of finder; the rest is best left untouched" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594800)) - Easier to use than Windows Explorer (5 comments): "once you got to know them (e.g. when coming over from Windows), it's smooth sailing - and much better than the Explorer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49591626)) "far more user-friendly and comprehensible than what explorer exposes to normal people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49590265)) "Finder blows, but somehow I navigate better with it now than I can with Explorer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48678579)) - Path bar and path-copy shortcut (3 comments): "The Finder issue can be alleviated if you include the path bar in your Finder window" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46689117)) "Enable the path bar. It does what you want in regards to path copying." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49596244)) "just select file in Finder and press Option-Cmd-C to copy file path" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594483)) - Long-time users find it best in class (4 comments): "I feel like Finder is easily best in class, even after ten or fifteen years of design." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49592943)) "I don’t quite understand the discontent with the Finder for the most part" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48818145)) "I am very fond of the Finder’s navigation and as a long-time Mac user" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50018074)) ## What people warn about - Glitches and unreliable behavior (4 comments): "But when Finder gets confused seems to be that when you shift between folders using the "browser-like" tools (back, forward, double-clicking a folder from the current folder)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46737697)) "Moving iPhone syncing to Finder made sense at a high level, but somehow it ended up becoming super glitchy and never gets fixed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50121428)) "Everytime I try to search something, it seems to insert random results in the list that have nothing to do with the term." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46728545)) - Search defaults to wrong scope (2 comments): "It’s incredible that “Search the Current Folder” is not the default, nor, as far as I’m aware, can it be made the default." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48148752)) "when you're in a folder, you start to search, and then it defaults to "This Mac" and not the god damn folder you're in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49709454)) - Missing basic features like split view (2 comments): "the constant explosion of new windows and lack of split-view" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822709)) "Finder is missing so many basic features that explorer.exe and Linux file managers have had standard for decades." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49592284)) - Hides directory structure, oversimplified (2 comments): "IMO the spacial Finder was designed around floppies and small folders and didn't work so well with hierarchical folder views" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47550572)) "I feel like Finder is overly-simplified and tries to abstract the directory structure away from the user too much." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49590058)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Midnight Commander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/midnight-commander.md): 34 recommend - [File Pilot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/file-pilot.md): 31 recommend - [Total Commander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/total-commander.md): 28 recommend - [Nautilus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nautilus.md): 17 recommend - [Double Commander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/double-commander.md): 11 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Finder (macOS)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/finder/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).